Posts Tagged ‘hard choices’

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It’s time to talk portable gaming. Not idiotic Angry-Birds-on-your-iPhone action, addictive as that may be, but proper performance laptops. Portable gaming PCs for real RPSers. Why? Some of you have asked for it. More importantly, it’s got to be the trickiest PC-related purchase and one where there’s little going back if you get it wrong. You’re stuck with an ill-specified, largely non-upgradeable brick.

In fact, the whole thing is so very befuddling, we’re going to split it into two parts. So, here’s part one of everything you need to know about buying a gaming laptop.

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When the artist previously known as Fingers McMeer – and my former PC Format paymaster from the good old days – first mooted some contributions to RPS on the matter of hardware, I was struck by a single, sobering thought. For the love of science, please don’t make me talk about overclocking. Here we are, then, talking about overclocking.

And you know what? It’s OK. Because what we’re going to tackle is real-world and worthwhile overclocking. Not the futile, fanboyish sort. In fact, when it comes to CPUs, it’s the sort of overclocking you really ought to be doing if you’re not already. Here’s why.Read the rest of this entry »

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It’s true! Top-end monitors for the same price as any old stinky crap in PC World. Read on for details of what/where/how, but please keep in mind even as you tremble in raw excitement that there is A BIG RISK FACTOR.

In a change from your irregularly-scheduled Guy Who Knows A Ton About Hardware, I’m afraid it’s me. But I bring glad, intriguing tidings from the silicon mines. If you cast your minds, or at least your browsers, back a few months, you may recall our recommendation of 27″, 2560×1440 monitors as your point of eyeball-based connection to your beloved gaming PC. Specifically, a 27″, 2560×1440 Hazro monitor for approximately £400, and which used the same LG LM270WQ1 IPS panel as those in Apple’s top of the range 27″ Cinema Displays/iMacs, amongst other £800+ 27 inchers. That was already half the price of its similarly-specced contemporaries, albeit housed within a less gorgeous casing and with but one input. It still, quite understandably, remains prohibitively expensive for a great many people.Read the rest of this entry »

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Our resident hardware dreamweaver/bubble-burster Jeremy returns with an examination into whether 3D glasses and 120Hz monitors are what PC gaming needs. For more Hard Choices – including the only answers you need on processors, graphics cards, hard drives, monitors and motherboards – please click here.

I’ve got a hunch about stereoscopic 3D. I reckon it’s on a 30-year cycle. According to the annals of history – otherwise known as Wikipedia – every 30 years or so sees a blip in the graph measuring interest in 3D before things revert to the long-term flatline.

So is the latest round of 3D flicks and games just a temporary craze? Or is 3D here to stay and just about to assimilate your PC?Read the rest of this entry »

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Quick heads-up for the hardware-hungry RPS massive: SSD prices have fallen off a cliff in recent weeks, so if you’ve been holding off until now it may be time to swoop on one.Read the rest of this entry »

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Knocking out hardware guides for RPS has been heap good fun, thanks in no small part to the enthusiastic après-post banter. But it’s also created a bit of a monster. Problem is, things move fast in ye olde world of tech and especially in graphics. It’s been getting on for four months since our first perusal of the world’s finest pixel pumpers.

That’s long enough for AMD and NVIDIA to roll out a small army of new graphics chips. The good news is that the four 3D boards I recommended back in Feb still look pretty sharp, partly because the arrival of new chips has pushed prices down. But there are also some new GPUs I reckon you need to know about and some broader trends to think about. So here goes.Read the rest of this entry »

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With my last instalment deftly punting the dreary but essential matter of motherboards into touch, it’s time to get back to something sexy. That’s right, RPSers, solid state storage gives me trouser tentage. I love SSDs, and I’m here to tell you which three drives are the ones you should be pointing your wallet at.Read the rest of this entry »

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Quick update for all you hardware chappies – Intel’s NDA for the new Ivy Bridge generation CPUs lifted earlier this week and the lawyers are back in their cages. The first reviews are out and it’s just as I predicted. Ivy Bridge is positively stultifying.Read the rest of this entry »

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With CPUs, GPUs and screens (x2) in the bag, it’s time to put the RPS spotlight onto that most mysterious of PC components, the motherboard. By some metrics, mobos are pretty easy to pick these days. For starters, there aren’t many chipset vendors to worry about. Only AMD and Intel are really left in the game. But Intel, in particular, has plenty of marketing tricks up its sleeve. It’s always worth knowing your Z77s from your H67s. So, let’s begin.

Now, I’ve never been a card-carrying motherboard aficionado. It’s a lot easier to get excited about crazy clocks speeds, lots of cores or a shit-load of shaders than it is all-solid super caps and 8+2 power phasing. It’s also true that chipsets and in turn motherboards have become less critical as ever more features have migrated onto the CPU itself.Read the rest of this entry »

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Hi gang. So, if you’ve read part one of our modern gaming monitor opus, you’ll know at least two things. Firstly, there’s no substitute for a good underlying LCD panel. And secondly, things are looking up for penniless gamers on the hunt for a solid screen on a tight budget. In this second and final part on monitors, I’ll boil the current crop down to the only four screens, ranging from cheapo to aaargh-my-bank-account, that you should consider if you’re in the market for a new display.

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OK folks, we’ve done CPUs and graphics cards, now for my favourite subject of all, screens. I’ve long said a decent screen is the best investment you can make. Frankly, I’ve long been right. I’ve three 30-inchers of my own, two of which are about five years old. And with the exception of 120Hz support (see below), the game hasn’t moved on dramatically. Any five-year-old CPU or GPU, by contrast, is garbage. That’s the difference.

As it happens, good LCD screens have just become a lot more affordable. You’ll need to check out part two for the whys and wherefores along with a tour of the best currently available options. But things change fast, so a little knowledge can go a long way. Here are the eight most important things you need to know about screens for games.Read the rest of this entry »

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Hello, good morrow and, well, graphics. After my début – and let’s be honest, definitive – dissertation on PC processors last month, this time around we’re talking pixel pumpers. The bad news is that this instalment won’t be nearly as neat as the first. With CPUs, I can point at the Intel Core i5 2500K and bark, “buy it”. Job done. Things are a lot more fluid and complex when it comes to GPUs – but even so, when it comes down to it you only need to trouble yourself with four cards today. The buying decision remains rather easy.Read the rest of this entry »

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We asked long-time Friend of RPS and tech know-it-all Jeremy Laird to write us a series of columns that would make hardware-buying the simplest of matters for even the most technophobic of our readers. A mere three months later, he got around to starting. So, here is his breakdown of what’s going on in the world of processors right now, ultimately boiling down to the only three CPUs you need to consider buying if you’re upgrading or building a new PC. Take it away, Lord Laird…

Greetings hallowed RPSers. I’m Jeremy. I’ve been a PC hardware hack for the best part of a decade. And I’m the go-to guy the shameless RPS crew hit up when they’re on the scrounge for a new CPU or simply can’t sort their SSD controllers from their SATA ports. That’s about as friendly as it’s going to get. It’s my job over the next few months to knock the sorry RPS collective into shape when it comes to PC hardware with a gaming slant.Read the rest of this entry »